The Doctor and The Hunter
by Masters of the Multiverse
Summary: Samus Aran has been on the run for several months now, ever since the X incident. One day, as she was simply trying to lay low, out of sight, an anomaly in space sends her crashing into another planet, where she meets a strange man with blue box. From there, a new adventure (and more) begins.
1. The Man With the Box, Part 1

_Samus Aran's Log: Entry 1_

_Had to get a new log program. The old one was confiscated when the Federation had me on that station with the X parasites running around. the Biologic Space Laboratories, or BSL for short. Here's hoping this doesn't bite me in the ass someday._

_The Galactic Federation is still after me. What a way to reward somebody who saved the galaxy more times than I can count, huh? Well, they can chase me all they want. If they somehow catch up with me, I won't go down without a fight… though, honestly, I'd prefer to save the fighting for only when absolutely necessary._

_I'll update this log whenever something interesting happens. Here's hoping nothing interesting happens._

-o-

_Samus Aran's Log: Entry 2_

_I managed to take down a Space Pirate base on some remote planet. They've apparently been trying to weaponize Metroids again. You'd think they would've learned their lesson by now. I killed off all the Metroids there. Hopefully, the pirates learn to steer clear of the little beasts. They probably won't, though._

-o-

_Samus Aran's Log: Entry 3_

_It's been a few weeks since I updated this thing. The Federation almost caught me recently. Stopped on the economic world Randu. Plenty of places to hide. A seedy place, too. It would've been the last place anybody would've looked for me. Got a job as a bartender for good measure. Humiliating, really, but necessary. Dyed my hair black, too._

_Whoever ratted me out likely recognized me solely by my face. The whole casino I was working in for three weeks ended up condemned. I would've gone back to check on the others who worked there, but Federation troopers were already combing the place. I had to run._

-o-

_Samus Aran's Log: Entry 4_

_People romanticize the idea of being on the run way too much. They see big adventures, meeting new and interesting people, discovering lost worlds and treasures, blah, blah, blah. It's nowhere as good as that. A lot of the people I've met since gong on the lamb have either been arrested or killed. Sometimes both. And the only new planet I've found so far was filled with savage beasts that tried to eat me. No surprise, really, considering all that I've been through in my life. If something didn't want you dead, odds are, it was probably already dead itself. I might sound jaded talking like that, but I've seen enough to know that for a fact._

-o-

_Samus Aran's Log: Entry 5_

_I found a distress beacon on an uncharted planet recently. When I investigated, I found that a Pirate frigate had crashed into a mountain. Some Aerotroopers tried to kill me when I arrived. I killed them, and every other Pirate on that frigate._

_Bastards were researching Metroids again. Only one of the little monsters survived the crash. Ice Beam and missiles. Works every time._

-o-

Samus leaned back in her seat as she finished that last entry. The Pirates were never going to learn. That much she knew for a fact. Still, it was pretty gratifying to once again act as a "major cause of setbacks" for the Pirates.

She yawned tiredly as she stared up the cockpit's ceiling, feeling bored. Bored was good, as much as she hated it. Usually, whenever something exciting happened around her, things tended to violently explode, planets included. And normally, people weren't spared.

She sighed through her nose as she thought back to everyone she had known in her life. Old Bird, the elderly Chozo who had raised her like his own daughter. Anthony Higgs, the man who had treated her like a sister since the moment they first met. Adam and Ian Malkovich, then two men who had acted like father and brother figures respectively. All of those people were dead and gone, except for one, and he was in the Federation military.

Samus Aran wasn't normally the type to linger in the past. Too many dark moments. Too much death. These days, however, she had little else to do. On the bright side, it allowed her to think more clearly about herself. She was willing to admit that she had made more than her fair share of mistakes, and she was likely to make more. She wasn't sure what the future held for her, but she would at least try to make better decisions.

A sudden beep on her ship's scanners caught her attention, pulling her from her musings. Something had been picked up by various scans. Odd distortions in space, mostly. It was vaguely similar to the portals back on Aether, but with a lot more power behind them. There was also some sort of disturbance on several other frequencies that her ship's computer couldn't identify. Whatever the source of the disturbance was, it was focused over a planet not too far from her position. Cautious curiosity took over as she maneuvered her ship towards the disturbance.

After several minutes of flying, she stopped in orbit of the planet – which she recognized as the mining world Krawna – where the disturbance was waiting. She could see some kind of distortion of light in the distance. She had her ship scan the distortion. Results showed that this was definitely the disturbance she had discovered. What was it, exactly? Could it be some sort of natural phenomenon that has yet to be recorded? Or was it an artificial happening caused by some kind of experiment? Was it-?

Just then, the distortion grew in severity, and a blue streak suddenly blasted out of it, straight toward the planet below. The resulting shockwave threw her ship completely off balance, overloading numerous systems as her craft became a victim of planet Krawna's gravity, dragging her down into the atmosphere proper.

Alarms blared all over Samus's ship, lights flashing red and the computer's stuttering voice alerting her to the failure of multiple systems. A red blaze surrounded the outside of her craft as it hit terminal velocity. All she could do was desperately hold onto her chair as the ship hurtled toward the ground and hope that she wouldn't be killed by the inevitable crash. She closed her eyes and clenched her hands onto the sturdiest thing she could reach; her ship's pilot's seat was designed to remain rooted in place no matter what. Anything short of total destruction of the ship would have very little chance at moving the thing.

The cockpit gradually began to get hotter and hotter as she plummeted towards Krawna's surface. She could feel beads of sweat already forming on her head. She could instinctively tell that she would end up hitting the ground in less than a minute now.

Galactic Federation Krawna Planetary Security Station, Outpost Aegis

There was nothing more dull than a posting at a security station. "Security station" was just a fancy way of saying "middle of nowhere." It wasn't all that bad, in a way. Meals were rubbish, but at least the Federation wasn't always breathing down their necks. That was just single perk out of all the boredom, though. Not much to outweigh it.

It didn't help that it was so late, either. Nearly one in the morning, in Earth standard hours, and no sleep. Not even the notorious Samus Aran would withstand such a thing, according to the station CO. No one believed that, though. The woman was famous for single-handedly destroying a planet, for God's sake.

A trooper sat alone in the monitor room, staring at a screen that had shown nothing for the last four weeks. Why this planet was so important to the Federation, he had no idea. Sure, Krawna was a mining world, but it didn't have much that would attract attention from the Federation's enemies. Maybe its tiny supply of Afloraltite, but as Fuel Gel gradually became more and more commonly used, Afloraltite was gradually becoming obsolete. Partly due to the large number of explosions and destruction it could cause with a mere spark, where Fuel Gel was far more stable until the time came for it to be used on ships or generators. It did have the pesky quality of flash freezing in cold temperatures, but that was easily solved by the use of plasma pipes to keep it warm while shipping or processing.

The trooper was just considering going to sleep right in his chair when one of the monitors beeped. Some kind of spacial anomaly, along with some sort of unknown energy. The energy resembled the theoretical models of Huon particles… but that was surely impossible, since no evidence of their existence had ever been found. Scans also picked up two unknown crafts entering the atmosphere. One was evidently advanced beyond what the Federation had ever seen. The other…

The trooper's eyes went wide, and he hit the alarm and turned on the PA system. "Samus Aran is on the planet! Repeat, Samus Aran is on the planet!" He turned to the monitors again, a mix of excitement of anxiousness running through his mind. He wanted something interesting to happen. This was perhaps a little too interesting.

Just as he turned around to look for his weapon, he caught something out of the corner of his eye in one of the monitors. It looked like… an angel? He looked at the monitor, but saw nothing more than rocks and dust. He shrugged it off, and went for his gear.

-o-

Samus Aran was no stranger to waking up in a crash site. It had happened to her more times than she cared to admit. That didn't mean she was a fan of it. She groaned groggily and painfully as she sat up in her chair. True to her hopes, it hadn't budged, and she wasn't too badly injured. A few nicks here, a bruise or two there. Nothing her ship's medbay couldn't fix. The ship itself, however… was a different story. A fuel line had snapped, leaving her grounded until the self-repair protocols kicked in. Still, this was nowhere as bad as that time on the planet Elysium, when the Phazon crazed bounty hunter, Ghor, completely trashed it. It should be fixed quickly, an hour tops. Hopefully nothing would try to kill her during that time period.

She climbed out of the ship through entry on the roof, which, thankfully, saw minimal damage. She was in some sort of forest made of trees that were vaguely reminiscent of bamboo on Earth, except these were bright red and orange, and had Zoomers crawling around on them. Not the weirdest thing she had ever seen, but still pretty up there.

Out of pure habit, she activated her Power Suit and stepped off of her ship, landing deftly on the ground below. She quickly scanned her surroundings, which were, in all honesty, pretty bland. Her helmet's built-in computer software beeped and brought up her map. That spacial anomaly had apparently launched something onto the planet's surface, though she couldn't really tell what it was. This would require investigation, and a little bit of stealth. The last thing she needed was for the Federation to find her. They probably already knew she was here, anyway.

Her computer indicated that the source of the anomaly's energies was fairly close by. About click west of her position. Going there in Morph Ball mode would probably help her avoid unwanted attention, and the Boost Ball would speed up travel considerably. Sure, using the regular Speed Boost would also do wonders, but it'd be far easier to detect. Nodding to herself, Samus activated the Morph Ball function and rocketed off towards the energy source's location, passing numerous creatures and plant life on her way.

Eventually, she came across a crater, not nearly as large as she was expecting. The energy source was at the bottom of the pit. She was slightly reluctant to go down there. The last time she investigated an energy source in a crater, she ended up fighting a gigantic Metroid that turned into a sadistic clone of her. She was about to decide on leaving the energy alone, when she heard the one thing she did not expect to hear: a voice, deep down the crater.

"Oh, come on!" a heavily accented male voice rang from the pit. "What is wrong with you? It was a small spatial flux, not a supernova!"

Samus hadn't expected to hear a British guy down in a crater. Was he somebody who stumbled across it?

"Oh, don't give me that! If someone knows how to travel through space and time, it's me!"

Or he could be a local crazy. That was something she was somewhat familiar with, unfortunately. Still, her conscience told her to investigate and see what he was doing down there. She couldn't just let him hurt himself.

"OI! You, up there! Don't suppose you could come down here and help me out?"

She stared down at an odd man. His head was mostly shaven, but not bald. He wore a black leather jacket, his pants were the same color, and his eyes… they held pain and suffering that could only come from war, something Samus herself was all too familiar with. He also looked… old. Far older than his appearance suggested. It wasn't rare to find alien species that aged slowly, but a human?

Regardless, she nodded and slid down the crater's edge and approached him, not saying a word just yet.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. "I'm the Doctor, pleased to make your acquaintance, Mister, uh… what's your name?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. She had expected that, but she didn't much appreciate it. "I'm Samus Aran. And I'm a woman." The man didn't even flinch.

"Oh, very well then, Miss. Just wondering if you could help me get my ship running."

"Ship?" He pointed to a blue box behind him that looked like one of those old payphone things she had seen in old history vids. Atop its door was a sign that read "Police Public Call Box," and on its roof was a primitive-looking siren light. "That's… not a ship." The man scoffed at her.

"Ah, humans. No matter where I go, you apes always pop up. One of the things I must say i admire about you people. You're like cockroaches, always showing up where you least expect them," the man said cheerfully.

"Are you deliberately insulting me?" Samus asked, feeling like he was.

"Well, I'm not exactly complimenting you, am I?"

She glared at him, though she knew he couldn't see her face through her visor. This guy was clearly an idiot. She hated having to deal with people like this. She had about half a mind to leave the man behind in this crater to take care of his stupid box on his own. In fact, she was going to do just that. She shook her head and turned to leave.

"Oh, by the way, you wouldn't happen to have seen any angel-shaped statues, have you?"

Samus stopped and turned to him. "Statues?"

"Yeah. Nasty pieces of work, really." He stopped for a moment, lost in thought. "Although, come to think of it, if you had seen them, I doubt we'd be talking right now. Nevermind." The man turned to the box and fetched a key from his pocket. "Come on, I'll show you around." He opened the box's right door and went inside, leaving the door wide open. Samus raised an eyebrow at the man's behavior, but decided to investigate, if only to humor him. Warily, she approached the box, arm cannon in front of her in case the man tried to ambush her. True to her training, she took cover on the left door, which had remained closed, and peered inside…

Slowly, she stepped inside, and her jaw fell. She walked outside of the box, just to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. She shook her head. She must've been seeing things. She stepped inside the box again, staring at the expansive room in front of her. She blinked, removed her helmet, letting her blond ponytail fall out, and rubbed her eyes to try and stop herself from seeing this figment of her imagination. It was still there. It was real.

"It's… bigger on the inside," she muttered in shock and amazement. The Doctor grinned when she said that.

"Oh, I just love it when people say that!" he said with glee as he pulled a few levers and pushed some buttons. "Now, thankfully, I seem to have crash landed right in front of a rift in space and time. Here's where I'll need your help. Would you mind pressing that big red button over there while I hold this down?" He pointed at a button at the other side of the console. "It will open up the engines and let the TARDIS soak up the energy released by the rift and I'll be able to get it out of here. Hopefully before the Angels find us, because I do _not_want to face them right now."

Samus just stared at him as he worked at the console in the center of the huge room. She shook her head and replaced her helmet over her head. "First thing's first," she said. "You never really answered my question from earlier. Who are you? What the hell is this thing? What Angels?" The Doctor looked a bit annoyed, but turned to her anyway.

"I'm the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords. This is the TARDIS. It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space." He then stepped away from the console and showed her a very crude drawing of an angel. "These are the Weeping Angels. Quantum-locked beings that thrive on temporal energy. To feed, they send people back in time and feed off the energy released by the alteration in the timeline. I was running from a group of them when I was caught in a time-space distortion that left me stranded on this planet." His cheerful smile returned as suddenly as it left. "There we go. Now help me with the button."

"Wait a minute. If those Angels were chasing you, and they're a hostile species, then shouldn't something be done? If they followed you, then it's likely that they ended up here on Krawna, too."

"Krawna? Never heard of that planet. What galaxy are we in?"

"The… Milky Way."

"But… hold on a moment." The Doctor ran around the console, checking several displays and meters. "This… can't be right… I'm… in another _universe!?_" He looked around the room, then at himself. "Well, I'm still alive and the TARDIS is somehow still running. Fantastic!" The man's words (and attitude) confused the blonde bounty hunter. "Anyway, the Angels aren't hostile. They're just hungry. We just happen to be the food. Not like we can harm them anyway. Hard to kill stone, you know?"

"Still, something should be done," Samus persisted. "Krawna is mining world, but their quarry is growing obsolete. They only have one security station here, and it's run by a barebones team of Federation troopers. There are hundreds of innocent people on this planet. If those Angels are as dangerous as you say, then the people who live here could be in danger. I'm not about to leave them for dead." With that, she exited the TARDIS, leaving the man calling himself the "Doctor" behind.

Just as she left the blue box, she happened to look up at the rim of the crater. Right where she had originally been standing at the edge of the crater was statue of an angel with its hands covering its face. An angel-shaped statue? Where did that come from? Unless… could it be one of those Angels that the Doctor had been talking about? She eyed the statue with cautious curiosity. Then she blinked.

Instantly, the statue was just a few feet away from her, in its exact same pose. She stumbled back in surprise, tripping over a rock and landing on her rear. Now the statue was even closer, and its hands were moved away from its face, revealing a hideous, fanged snarl, its hands outstretched as if to try and capture her. She aimed her arm cannon at the statue and blasted away at it from her prone position, chipping away large portions of it until it was rubble.

She panted heavily, the sudden adrenaline rush from the panic fading gradually. How did that thing move so fast? She blinked once, and it was almost close enough to touch her! Was it some form of teleportation? She shook her head. Teleportation would've had a sound and light to it. This thing must've simply moved. That's when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Standing next to her was the Doctor, staring intently at the statue's remains.

"Don't blink. Don't even blink." His previous cheer was all but gone. "I told you, they're quantum-locked. They won't move when someone's looking at them. It's a defense mechanism. You can't kill stone." He helped her up and slowly walked backwards towards the TARDIS. "I understand you want to help, but there's nothing we can do. I have faced many things in my life, and these are the only ones I know I can't do anything about. Even if you reduced this one to rubble, the minute you're not looking it'll be back to normal."

Samus looked to the Doctor, then to the rubble again. A part of her wanted to just get back to her ship, wait for it to finish its repairs, and then fly off, leaving this planet behind. But a larger part of her screamed at her to do something. That conscience that her mentor Old Bird hammered into her when she was young demanded that she do something. She glared at the Doctor.

"I'll find a way to kill these things," she said simply. She aimed her arm cannon at the rubble and launched a missile at the pile of rock, blasting the larger chunks into smaller bits and scattering other pieces farther apart. She faced the Doctor again. "I'm not going to run and hide from these things. If you want to leave innocent people to be killed or fed on or whatever, fine. Be my guest. But I'm not running." With that said, she turned and walked off, stomping on the Angel's remains for good measure as she left the man with the box behind. She heard the door of the box close, and decided to look over her shoulder, just to check on the man…

And an Angel was right behind her, arms outstretched and just about to touch her. She couldn't hold back the scream of fear that ripped through her throat when she saw it, forcing her to turn around completely. She risked looking behind the statue… and just like the man had said, the rubble was no longer there, and an Angel was in front of her. The damned thing had fixed itself!

She quickly composed herself and aimed her arm cannon at the thing. She kept her eyes on it as she tried to think of a way to get rid of this thing. Then, an idea came to mind. Not taking her eyes off the Angel, she switched from her basic Power Beam to the much more devastating Dark Beam. It had been a long time since she had used this weapon. As a test, she fire a single round at the Angel, blasting off one of its hands with the dark energy. Dark energy is effective against these things, it seems. Behind her helmet, Samus smirked and began charging the Dark Beam. Once it was fully charged, she activated her missile launcher, draining ten of the explosives as a large, slow-moving glob of antimatter barreled toward the Angel. Once the projectile landed, the Darkburst took effect and created its signature portal to God knows where, sending the Angel in pieces to its new destination.

Once the portal disappeared, Samus checked her missile reserves. She had no idea how of these Angels might've been running around, but she supposed she could find and get rid of them all relatively easily with the Darkburst. Sending them to a dark dimension where nothing can survive was definitely effective. She turned around and set off to look for more of the Angels, when she heard a footstep behind her. She turned, and saw the Doctor standing where the Angel once was, looking moderately impressed. He clapped at her.

"Well done. You managed to kill a Weeping Angel. The Shadow Proclamation would put your picture on the wall for doing so." He said cheerfully, before locking his gaze behind her. "Sadly, the Angels are _very _close to one another. Kill one…" He motioned behind her. Fear rose in Samus's gut as she slowly turned around yet again. Just as she had feared, there were more Angels behind her. "... and the rest come to take revenge… or find out how you did it." He approached her, not taking his eyes off the statues. "I went looking for the ones that the Angels already used as food. There's a reason they are called the Kind Killers, you know. All of them were sent back to a time where the mineral mined in this rock was actually very valuable. Why not just let them send them back? Instead of, you know, angering them and creating the possibility of getting your neck snapped while you aren't looking."

Samus wanted to turn to glare at the Doctor, but decided not to give the Angels a chance to rush her. "They don't belong in the past. If you can get them back, bring them back. I'll take care of the rest of these piles of rock."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are a _very _stubborn woman?" The Doctor asked, annoyed. "Anyway, I _can't _bring them back here. They belong in the past now. If I brought them here, it could create a distortion in time that would rip this whole planet in two and kill anyone still on it." The man then walked past her, carrying a set of mirrors. Carefully, he placed a mirror in front of each angel. "There we go. This should keep them from moving for a while." He turned back to Samus, and his face lost all color, even his massive ears. "Oh…" Samus turned to see what had caused such a reaction from the man…

The rim of the crater was completely surrounded by Angels. Each of them had a furious snarl on their faces, and they were glaring… right at Samus. "Okay…" the Hunter muttered, silently praying to whatever deities might've been listening. "What now?" She felt the Doctor grab her free hand. She was startled by the sudden contact, but even more so by what he said.

"Run."

For once, Samus was okay with that sort of plan.

-o-

******Blade: Well, that was interesting, wouldn't you agree? **

******Lycaon: Those two are definitely up a creek. Who knows? Maybe the bad guys will win one for once.**

******Blade: Yeah, ****__****who ********knows… oh wait! WE DO!**

******Lycaon: Pays to be the author, doesn't it? Anyway, next time, we might get to see (so to speak) more creepy angel statues get f**king blasted into rubble. Ought to be fun.**

******Blade: And partially terrifying due to the Angels. Hate those things. Seriously, who doesn't hate those things!**

******Lycaon: Personally, I'm more afraid of mannequins than statues. F**k that first episode of the 2005 series. I had nightmares.**

******Blade: Just wait till 10 meets the Ood.**

******Lycaon: The f**k's an "Ood?" Sounds like something Family Guy would have running around. *author shakes his head* Forget it. Let's just close this out before we go off on too big a tangent.**

******Blade: Fair enough. *Turns to the audience* Well, our dear readers, we hope you enjoyed. This is BladeOfThePoet, logging out! **

******Lycaon: Later, lesser beings. But seriously, we love you people. Bye.**


	2. The Man With the Box, Part 2

Samus hated running. It made her feel… not herself. A part of her begged to turn around and face this new enemy just like any other. Her pride demanded that she face them and fight. However, for better or worse, logic and reason spoke louder. There were too many of those Angels, and the Darkburst would take too long to charge, and she didn't have enough missiles to get rid of them all. They would snap her neck or worse if they caught her. The Doctor had made that explicitly clear. The two were running towards the blue box, back to back to keep looking at the Angels. He assured her the Angels would not be able to get in the TARDIS…

"... I hope…" He added as an after thought. Truth is, he knew the Angels could damage the TARDIS from the outside. Their quantum-locked physiology did not agree with the sentient ship.

As they ran, Samus began charging another Darkburst. Hopefully, the Angels would hold still just long enough for a good few of them to get pulled into its black hole. Once fully charged, she turned and unleashed the weapon. Unfortunately, only one Angel was within the portal's range. The others had apparently kept their distance as they chased them, likely out of newfound caution.

"We need to find the Federation outpost!" Samus shouted. It was the last place she wanted to go, but with her ship on the fritz, and the Doctor's impossible box surrounded by those things, they didn't have very many options available. At the very least, the walls of the outpost would buy them time to think of a plan. She contacted her ship's computer and downloaded a updated map of the main colony area on Krawna. The outpost wasn't too far away. Two clicks south of their current position. There was only one way to get there ahead of the Angels that she could think of. She grabbed the Doctor's arm, and with a yelp from the man, she pulled him onto her back piggyback style. "Hold on!"

"What are you-?" He was interrupted by a loud buzzing sound emanating from Samus's armor, which was beginning to glow brightly. Two seconds later, they blasted off southward, the Doctor screaming the whole way, though whether it was from excitement or terror, Samus couldn't be sure. If it was the latter, it'd be understandable. The former, and she'd be completely certain that he's either an idiot or completely insane. They arrived rapidly to the outpost, and the rather dazed Doctor got off her back. "That… was fantastic!" he exclaimed cheerfully. Apparently, it had been the former after all.

"You're either insane, an idiot, or both," said Samus as she panted slightly. Using the Speed Booster for so long wasn't good for her physical health. One of the main reasons she refrained from using it very often. "We need to get inside before those things catch up with-" She interrupted by the sound of guns clicking. They were surrounded by Federation troopers now, all with their guns aimed and ready to fire. Samus groaned silently to herself. She saw this coming, but there wasn't much other choice.

"Stay right where you are!" one of the troopers barked at them. "Hands in the air! Samus Aran, you are under arrest for treason against the Galactic Federation and sabotage of Federation property! Depower your armor and surrender immediately, or we will open fire!"

"Wait, treason?" the Doctor asked. "You're a criminal?"

"Long story," Samus replied simply. "Now's not the time to get into it." She stepped forward, armor still active. The troopers backed away when she approached. That was one part of her reputation she secretly enjoyed. People knew to steer clear of her whenever she approached in full armor. "This whole planet is in grave danger. A race of aliens called…" She trailed off, turning to the Doctor for reference.

"Ah, Weeping Angels."

Samus nodded and faced the GF troopers again. "A race of aliens called the Weeping Angels are on Krawna right now. I don't know where they came from, but they are extremely dangerous. We need to get rid of them as soon as possible."

"And why should we believe a criminal?" one trooper asked. Samus noticed his gun shake slightly.

She sighed and turned to where she had fled from the Angels. Sure enough, there were already two popping out from the treeline. She pointed to them and said, "Those statues are alive. You blink, and they'll rush you like a rabid Grenchler until you open your eyes."

"Living statues?" the nervous trooper said skeptically. "Please! That's-!" Samus blinked at that moment. A loud crack was heard just she opened her eyes. The trooper who had been speaking lay dead at the base of one of the Angels, his head lying at an odd angle. The other troopers panicked and fired on the statue, blasting it apart until it was rubble, just as Samus had done with that first one.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" the first trooper shouted in fear.

"His neck's broken!" said another trooper who was kneeling over the deceased soldier. "That thing killed him!" The Doctor then looked around.

"Alright, NOBODY BLINK!" He yelled. "I want everyone to slowly form a circle, facing outwards…"

"And how do we know you're not working with those things?" yet another trooper asked, his gun aimed at the Angels that had broken past the treeline.

"Do you have a better idea to get away from them?" Samus retorted. "Your security station is one of the safest places on the planet right now. It can buy us time to come up with a way to deal with the Angels." The troopers looked to each other briefly, then complied with the Doctor's earlier command, keeping their weapons trained on the Angels as the whole group slowly backed into the station. Once inside, one trooper hit a button, and an armored door slid down. There was a collective sigh of relief, followed by the sound of something scratching at the door, trying to get in.

"Okay… now what?" the first trooper asked.

"Who's in charge here?" Samus asked.

"That'd be me. Lieutenant John Reeves."

"Seal off every entrance, anything that can be used to get inside the station." She turned to the other troopers. "If there are any doubters left, go to your barracks and wait until Reeves gives the all clear." She faced the Doctor. "You know more about these things than we do. Do you have anything that can help us? A plan or something?"

The man eyed her arm cannon for a moment. "What was it you used against that first Angel?"

"A weapon called the Darkburst," the Hunter explained. "I'm not entirely certain how it works, to be honest, but it sends all targets in range to some sort of pocket dimension. At least, that's what the ones who created it told me when I got it. Why?" The Doctor pulled out a small, tube-like device, and grabbed Samus's cannon arm. He activated the device, making it emit a soft blue light and a rather annoying humming sound. "What is that thing?" She asked, alarmed that someone was messing with her suit.

"A Sonic Screwdriver," he said simply, pointing the device at different points of the cannon. Not long after, Samus's HUD filled with hundreds of algorithms and new software. "There we go. I upgraded your cannon's firing ability…" A text box popped up on her screen:

Seeker missile system upgraded: Darkburst, Sunburst and Sonic Boom capabilities added

Missile production algorithms upgraded. Missile capacity increased by 50%

To say the blonde bounty hunter was shocked was an understatement. It was hard to find technology compatible with the Chozo Power Suit tech, due to how advanced it was, and yet this man had used a small "screwdriver" to make her arm cannon pack even more of a punch. She looked at her cannon for a second, before turning to the Doctor.

"How did you do that?" she half asked, half demanded. The man twirled the device in his hand.

"My personal tool. It does everything and anything," he proclaimed proudly, but then muttered something incomprehensible. "Now, with your weapon, we should be able to chase off the Angels."

Samus shook her head. "These things are too dangerous," she said simply. "I'm going to get rid of them." She turned to the trooper closest to the armored door. "Open the gate on my word." The soldier nodded, his hand at the ready over the button. Samus readied her arm cannon, focused but still awed by the large sphere of dark energy forming over it. The power it held was… amazing, to say the least. She waited for the sphere to fully charge… "NOW!" The soldier pressed the button. Outside, at least two dozens of angels were waiting, snarling and preparing to attack the door. Samus released an onslaught of missiles at them, immediately consuming over 50 missiles and practically all the Dark Beam ammo she had. It was worth it, however, as the missiles created the massive implosion needed to suck in all the angels into the pocket dimension of the Darkburst. To the relief of everyone present, not a single Angel was in sight after the attack. The radars showed no statues nearby. Samus sighed in relief, thinking the danger was over. However, her relief was short lived, as...

*Chu-chink!*

All the troopers turned their weapons at Samus. The lieutenant sighed sadly.

"I'm sorry, Aran," He said glumly. "You just saved our lives, and we appreciate it more than you can imagine. But we have direct orders to take you in, dead or alive, if we ever see you." Samus took a step back. She knew they had direct orders, but she had hoped that saving their asses would be enough to at least let her get away this time. Too much to hope for, she guesses. Before she could do anything, the Doctor stood between her and the troopers, and addressed the Lieutenant.

"Oi! Have you been living under a rock or something?" he chided the soldier. "That order was pulled back ages ago! I can't believe no one sent you the update!" The lieutenant's expression went from sad to confused.

"Pulled back? Under whose authority?" He asked, suspicious. The Doctor brought out a leather object from his pocket and flipped it open.

"That would be mine, soldier," he answered the Lieutenant. All the soldiers straightened up and saluted the man, even the lieutenant.

"Forgive us, Admiral!" The Lieutenant said, not breaking his salute. "We weren't informed of the change of orders." The Doctor smiled and put away his little leather pocket.

"As you were, soldiers." He said as cheery as ever. "Now, your new orders are to leave this planet and declare it a hazard zone. Alright?" The men nodded. The Doctor's smile went from mammoth ear to mammoth ear. "Good! And please give Miss Aran any supplies you can spare."

The troopers saluted and scattered to do as ordered, leaving Samus completely baffled. "Wait, you're an admiral?"

"Oh, no," the Doctor replied with a laugh. He showed her the object he showed the troopers. In it was a blank piece of paper. "Slightly psychic paper, Miss Aran. Looks like anything I need it to. Well, for anyone vulnerable to psychic influence, at least. It's gotten me out of more jams than you can count."

Samus stared at the man for a moment, then shook her head. "You're an odd one, aren't you?"

"I've been called worse," the Doctor admitted with a nonchalant shrug.

After a few minutes, the GF troopers had given Samus what she needed to top off her ammunition and recharge her suit's shields. Back in top shape once again. Once she was done, she, accompanied by the Doctor, left the security station, heading for her ship.

It was still damaged, and still going through its auto-repair protocols. She was going to be on Krawna for a while, it seemed.

"Impressive tech," the Doctor commented. "I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. Not quite on par with the TARDIS, of course, but pretty close."

Samus scoffed as she deactivated her armor and climbed up onto her ship, heading for the rooftop entry. Before setting foot on the lift, she looked back at the Doctor, who was grinning stupidly. She narrowed her eyes. "Take a picture. It lasts longer." She was about to climb in when the Doctor's words stopped her.

"You could come with me, you know," he said. Samus looked at him, confused.

"And go where, exactly?" The man grinned even wider.

"Anywhere and anytime. I could take you to see the beginning of the Universe, the end of the Earth, the birth of your… Galactic Federation, I think you called it? I could even take you to witness your own birth if you wanted." He thought about that last sentence for a minute. "Actually, forget the latter. The paradoxes would be impossible to deal with." Samus was about to decline the man's offer, if it was even possible to travel through time, when a thought flashed through her mind. She turned to the man.

"Tell me… Would I be able to change events?" She asked, a small glimmer of hope in her voice. The man nodded.

"As long as the event isn't a fixed point in time, anything is possible." He answered. "It took me a moment to catch up, but I can tell you which events are Time Locked and which aren't." The Huntress looked at the man.

"... What about five years ago, coordinates 112-354, in the space station codenamed 'Bottle Ship'?" The Doctor closed his eyes, reading the flow of time.

"Hm… nope. The whole place is completely changeable. There's only one event locked: the death of a… Melissa Bergman?" Samus released a shaky sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I was there for that," she said somewhat sadly. "What if it was a death that no one actually witnessed?"

"I'm not sure…" The Doctor said, worried. "Saving the life of someone that was going to die can lead to some nasty paradoxes…" He looked at her. "What was his name?" Samus looked at him, wondering if she should tell him. There could be disastrous consequences. Still…

"His name was... Adam… Adam Malkovich."

-o-

He stood in the middle of the Metroid habitat, looking at the destruction he had caused. It wouldn't be long before the lab was jettisoned into space and destroyed. The blast would certainly kill every Metroid inside… plus himself. A part of him was happy, since Samus would be able to live a longer life than him. Another part… was crying, for he knew he wouldn't be there for her.

She liked to act tough. She liked to make herself appear stronger than anyone else in the room. But he knew what she was. She had seen things that he knew stuck with her, and would likely never leave her. She had suffered through ordeals he wouldn't wish upon his worst enemy, and yet she stayed strong. If she maintained that strength, he had no doubts that she would survive. Although… surviving and living weren't always the same thing.

An explosion blasted somewhere within the lab, followed by more blasts. They were getting closer and closer. This was the end for certain. Resigning himself to his fate, he set his rifle down on the ground and sat down next to it, leaning back against the console he had sabotaged. He chuckled to himself. The thing that would make this whole "self-sacrifice" cliché even more cliché is if he had a cigarette and a picture of Samus. Too bad he wasn't a smoker, but he did have a picture of her… He pulled it out and looked at it. It was the same picture that he often had in his office back headquarters, with him, Samus, and his brother Ian. He had meant to give it to Samus the next time he saw her, so he had been keeping it with him at all times for the past… he didn't even remember how long.

He leaned back and sighed. He knew the destruction of the lab would cause massive trouble for anyone in the squad that survived, Samus included. But at least they would live. And he'd rather have his little girl face the Galactic Council rather than have her die in this place.

He closed his eyes and waited. Honestly, he wouldn't want to go out any other way. Not that he'd mind living a little longer, but this way, he would die for a good cause. He mentally kept up with the countdown, wondering if he'd die from the blast or from a Metroid attack…

… and that's when he heard it.

A strange groaning, like some kind of alarm, but not quite. He opened his eyes, and saw something that made him wonder if the plant life around him had hallucinogenic qualities. A large, blue box with the words "POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX" written on top. He stared at it, completely dumbfounded, when the door opened, revealing a man with shaved head, a black leather jacket, and an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Malkovich. I'm the Doctor, pleased to meet you. Run for your life!" He motioned into the box. Adam stared at the man. "Come on, now! This whole place is about to blow!"

He shook his head, stood up with his rifle and hurried into the box, hoping he'd have enough space to make it less awkward for him and the stranger who was saving his life. He stopped once he was inside and gawked at the massive space in front of him. Not for long, though. A blue-clad fist smashed into his face, knocking him flat on his back. Before he could react, the same hand pulled him back up and pulled him into a hug that nearly crushed him, even with his armor.

"I did have an objection," said Samus Aran as she pulled away from him.

"What-?" Adam said just before being interrupted by the man who had ordered him into the box.

"How touching…" he said cheerfully as he ran past them towards the center of the room. "All right, Sammy!"

"Don't call me that," Samus complained.

"We got your friend out of the fire, in one piece, might I add. Where do you want to go next?" He pressed several buttons and pulled levers as he ran around the large circular structure.

"How about somewhere that's not going to explode?" the Hunter suggested.

"Oh, but where's the fun in that?" the man answered. "Oh! I know! How about we go see the birth of the Roman Empire! I'm thinking, you have an Earth in this universe, so your history should be more or less the same. We could go party with Bacchus! Oh, does he know how to pull a party!"

"Whatever," Samus replied. She turned to Adam, who was looking around at the massive inside of the TARDIS. "Yeah, it's bigger on the inside. I'll explain how I got here later. For now, you've got some reading to do to catch up with the times." She handed him a PDA loaded with everything he would need to know. "Doctor, get us out of here."

"With pleasure… Sammy."

Samus rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot."

"And you're a spoilsport. Off we go!" And with that, the TARDIS disappeared from the Bottle Ship.

-o-

**Blade: ADAM'S ALIIIIVE!**

**Lycaon: Don't forget that half the Metroid fandom hates his guts for no good reason. We probably just pissed off a lot of people.**

**Blade: I just don't get it, though. All he did was be a loving father figure for Samus and willingly give his life to save her, even though she wasn't even an official part of his squad.**

**Lycaon: Eh, people will find any reason to hate things. Personally, I relate to the guy for a number of reasons that I'd rather not get into, because lazy.**

**Blade: Well, haters gonna hate and potatoes gonna potate.**

**Lycaon: Don't ever say that again. That was unbelievably dumb. No offense.**

**Blade: None taken. *to the audience* Thank you for reading this, our good readers! This is BladeOfThePoet, logging out!**

**Lycaon: Now let's go punch a dragon in the face. And no, it's not Ridley. And no, that's not foreshadowing. Seriously.**

**Blade: Yeah. Just because I say "the Ing are alive" doesn't mean they are.**

**Lycaon: *sighs* How much you wanna bet people are still gonna make outlandish theories about those things?**

**Blade: Meh, I don't gamble with things like that… only with cards.**

**Lycaon: Fair enough. Farewell, lesser beings! We still love you!**

**Blade: Except flamers. We don't like flamers. Readers don't like flamers. Flamers don't like flamers… nobody likes flamers!**

**********Lycaon: Regardless, they shall be loved and tolerated until they puke rainbows. Later. **


	3. Non-Story: Announcement and Request

**********Lycaon: Hello. I'm on my own for now. Now listen up, people. If you're going to leave a review on this story that Blade or I will likely respond to, I suggest you do so while on your account. If you don't have one, make one, and THEN leave a review so that we may respond via PM. Now, we had a guest review on chapter 2 regarding my comment of "half the Metroid fandom hates him (Adam Malkovich) for no good reason." First of all, that was a joke. I can see all the flaws in his character and why people would hate him so much. However, he's not just a one-dimensional jerk. He still conveys a sense of authority, still acts as a father figure for Samus, still as her friend. The only reason he shot her with his freeze gun is so that she wouldn't engage a Metroid that could have been invulnerable to cold. Sure, it was an infant, but there's still a lot we know about the Metroid that were mutated by the Federation. As such, the Metroid could've had any number of tricks ready. As for Other M shoving the Prime trilogy into discontinuity: seriously? It's actually very simple. The Prime trilogy actually occurred BEFORE the events of Other M and Super Metroid, but after the events of the original Metroid. Seriously, check the timeline before saying something like that. I did. In fact, here it is for those of you too lazy to look it up for yourselves:**

**********Metroid/Zero Mission (ZM was, of course, a remake of the original)**

**********Prime**

**********Prime Hunters**

**********Prime 2: Echoes**

**********Prime 3: Corruption**

**********Metroid 2: Return of Samus**

**********Super Metroid**

**********Other M**

**********Fusion**

**********So, yeah, I'm pretty sure they all fit into the timeline fairly well. For those of you who are more polite and open-minded, I request that you leave reviews in a manner that we can respond without wasting space where we could put a chapter. Thank you, and have a fantastic day, all of you.**


End file.
